


One Day More

by peggy_hamilton



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Angst, Babe (mentioned), Background Relationships, Car Accidents, Character Death, Lipton/Speirs - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 14:36:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8848828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peggy_hamilton/pseuds/peggy_hamilton
Summary: It's been four weeks since the accident when Joe lost his leg and he's having a hard time adjusting.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So I came on and saw everyone had been posting fics about these two so I thought I'd add in my own to the mix. I wrote this throughout today when I got the chance and I hope you guys like it!

_Crash!_

Joe jolted awake, feeling the bed next to him. The sheets were cold and had been for a while, he slowly pushed himself up and blinked in a daze. "George?" He called out, his voice throatier than usual.

No response.

"George?" he called louder, his voice echoed off the walls. His eyes landed on the clock on the bedside table, 10:37, George must have gone to work by now and he had slept in.

He shakily stood up from the bed, placing his weight down on his leg and trying not to look at the still healing skin around the stump of his leg. His hands shook from the memory of the nightmare, that forsaken car crash that cost Joe his leg. He grit his teeth and shook his hand out, sighing in relief when the tremors stopped.

Hopping over to where he'd left his prosthetic he attached it and made his way to the kitchen. Next to the pot of coffee was a sticky note, a little crumpled and torn around the edges.  _Have a great day! Love George :)_

Joe smiled at the message and placed the note back down on the counter and poured himself a coffee while he read the newspaper. About an hour later the phone rang, "Hello?" he asked, still reading over an article entitled 'Things you may not realise could give you cancer'.

"Hey, Joe," Bill's voice sounded through the speaker, "How you holding up?" he asked tentatively.

Joe rolled his eyes, everyone had been skirting around him for weeks. "I'm doing fine, Bill. Getting used to the leg but it's still okay."

He could practically hear the frown, "Are you sure? What about-"

"I'm fine, Bill," Joe cut him off.

Bill sighed heavily, "If you're sure. Look maybe me and Babe could come by later, we can catch up." Joe thought about it, but he just wanted a quiet evening with George.

"Thanks, but maybe another time, this weekend maybe," he suggested, knowing Bill wouldn't drop it otherwise.

"Yeah. Yeah, okay. Call if you need anything."

"Will do," Joe hung up the phone. He flipped it over in his hand a few times before pushing speed dial 1.

_"Hello, you've reached George Luz. Leave your name, number and dick size after the beep."_

Joe clicked off before the beep sounded and put his phone down, since the accident he was out of work and the apartment got quiet and lonely. George was out most of the day, he was out before Joe woke up and he often had to work late to make up enough overtime to support the two of them until Joe could find another job when he got cleared to go back to work.

Joe felt like a useless slob, like he was taking advantage of George. If only his stupid leg hadn't been crushed beyond belief, he glared at the space where his leg met the prosthetic and stumbled over to the living room.

One of George's jumpers was discarded over the arm of the sofa, he picked it up and a memory of a sleepy Saturday morning with George's hair mussed up and smiling at him over a cup of coffee shot through him. He thumbed the jumper with a deep sense of longing and placed it back where he found it and switched on the television. Joe grimaced as he took in the array of dirty mugs, plates and empty take out cartons,  _I need to clean this place._

A knock at the door startled him, he stood still for a moment and another knock came. "Just a minute!" Joe stood up and got his balance before walking slowly over to the door and unlocking it, "Lip?"

"Hey, Joe, how you doing?" Lipton asked, it seemed to be a popular question recently.

"Fine, come on in," he stepped back allowing Lip to get in his apartment, the look on his face as he took in the mess of the living room didn't go unnoticed. Lip had always been more George's friend than his as they had known each other since they were kids, he and Joe got along well but they never sought each other out. "If you're looking for George you just missed him, he's at work."

Lip paused, glancing at Joe with an unreadable expression on his face, "I'm actually here for you."

Joe raised an eyebrow, "Did Bill put you up to this?"

"No, no," Lip quickly assured, "I just thought I'd check in on you, see how you were doing."

Joe pursed his lips and looked over at him properly, noting the dark bags under his eyes and the less than cheerful demeanour he had. "Are  _you_ okay?"

"Better than you," Lip shrugged, "How's your leg?"

"Still getting used to it. Seriously though, you look like shit, you've got to stop working so hard."

Lip ran a hand over his face and swallowed thickly, "Yeah that must be it." He quickly steeled his looks and began to absentmindedly collect the trash, Joe would have protested as Lip was always looking after them when he didn't need to but he was too tired to clean it himself. "You didn't have to come all the way down here," Joe settled for instead.

"Yes, I did. I mean, I wanted to," Lip said carefully, not looking up from his task. "Y'know if you ever wanted to get out of this place for an hour or two you can always call me up."

 _And have people stare at my leg? No thanks._ "Maybe."

Lip sighed, "Alright then," he put the boxes in the bin and the living room already looked so much cleaner. "Listen, I've got to meet up with Ron but I'll try and drop by later this week."

Joe nodded, "Okay, I'll tell George you dropped by."

Lip paused again, "Right. Of course. I'll see you, Joe."

Joe walked Lip out and looked around his apartment which suddenly seemed so empty once more. The rest of the morning and afternoon passed by quickly, Joe watched the TV and fell asleep as the sun was setting.

_Crash!_

_A large weight pushed against and split through his leg, he didn't have time to scream out in pain because his head snapped forward and off the dashboard._

_When he came to he groaned in pain, "George?" he called out weakly, he was covered in blood and blinding lights flashed blue around the car. "George?" He tried again louder, eyes landing on the drivers seat where George sat. George's head was lolled forward with a large gaping wound on his forehead, "George?" He tried again, reaching out with an unsteady hand to shake him awake. "George!"_

"George!" Joe sat up, his heart pounding in his chest and sweat collecting on his forehead.

"Hey, babe," George was kneeling above him, his hands on Joe's shoulders to steady him and a small frown etched onto his face. "You okay?"

"George?" Joe panted, finally registering that he was in front of him, "What are you doing here?"

"Knocked off work early," he perched on the sofa next to him for only a split second before Joe pulled him into his lap and wrapped his arms around his waist. George looped his arms over Joe's shoulders and Joe buried his face in his neck, breathing him in.  "You okay?" George whispered, tracing his fingers through Joe's hair which had overgrown some.

"Yeah," Joe nodded as George settled back to sit on his upper thighs, "I'm just glad you're home."

George grinned at him, the scar on his forehead catching in the light, "Me too. I'm thinking pizza for dinner."

"Again?" Joe asked, amused.

George shrugged, "Love me some pizza. Why don't you order it and I'll put on a movie."

"Fine," Joe rolled his eyes fondly and untangled from him. They ordered the pizza and settled on a movie, the evening flew by and soon they were tucked into bed. Joe lazily traced his fingers over the skin exposed on George's side where his shirt had ridden up, "I love you."

"I love you, too, Joe," George whispered, a tense look appearing in his eyes, "But you can't keep going on like this."

Joe's hand stopped, "Like what?"

George sighed, "You need to deal with the fact that I'm not here anymore."

Joe scoffed, "You're right in front of me."

"No," George gently grabbed Joe's wrists, "I'm not. I know you're scared and I know you don't want to deal with this but you have to."

Tears filled Joe's eyes and he shook his head, "I'm not ready to let you go, Georgie," his voice was thick from the tears.

"You don't have to, but you need to move on."

"I can't," Joe shook his head frantically. George pulled him to him, running his hands soothingly up and down his back. "Don't go, stay with me," Joe cried.

"I will," George whispered, "I'll stay for tonight, then tomorrow you have to move on. Deal?"

Joe sniffed, "Deal," he agreed brokenly. He fell asleep cradled in George's embrace, his mind playing that fateful night over and over again.

_"George?" He wasn't waking up. The pain from his leg was so severe that he passed out once more._

_He blinked awake with lights flicking overhead, he was being wheeled down a corridor while people talked hurriedly all around him. "Where's George?" he slurred, nobody answered him, he felt a prick in his arm and the world went black._

_When he woke up to the sound of steady bleeping he knew something was wrong. He tried to sit up but couldn't get the leverage, lifting his head he looked down to see the cover dip and lie flat on the bed where the lower half of his leg should be. "Oh my god," Joe felt like he was going to throw up._

_"You're awake!"_

_"Bill?" he hadn't noticed his friend had been sitting there next to the bed the whole time._

_"They had to cut off your leg, it got crushed pretty bad. But hey now we match!" Bill said with a grin that was a little strained and his eyes were rimmed red. Bill had lost his leg when they were teenagers in a bad football accident, before they even made it to college, before he met-_

_"Where's George?"_

_Bill bit his lip, "Listen, buddy, there's something you should know..."_

_Crash!_

Joe jolted awake, feeling the bed next to him. The sheets were cold and had been for a while, he slowly pushed himself up and blinked in a daze. "George?" he called out, his voice throatier than usual.

No response.

"George?" he called louder, his voice echoed off the walls. His eyes landed on the clock on the bedside table, 11:43, George must have gone to work by now and he had slept in.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry please don't hate me.


End file.
